BBCSSO/Volkov

A straw poll of those queuing enthusiastically to hear all Stravinsky's ballet scores at this year's Proms would probably show that many had never seen one danced on stage. Here's the paradox: while it is entirely possible to become absorbed by the drama of The Rite of Spring and Petrushka as seen in the mind's eye, the later ballets are harder to connect with – even though their relative abstraction should by rights make them better suited to the concert hall.

Orpheus, written in 1947, is one of the later scores, and, as played by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, it provided a cool and collected curtain-raiser for the annual Proms performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Ilan Volkov's conducting maintained an airy momentum and unblemished poise, and a few moments of warmth made their mark: the piquant oboes duetting for Orpheus's singing, and the honeyed strings for his dance with Euridice. But the overall impression was of detachment. The penultimate episode, in which on stage we would see Orpheus torn to bits by the Furies, registered as dramatic, but only in the context of the rest of the score; hardly a graphic aural portrayal of dismemberment.

Nor did Volkov turn up the heat in the Beethoven until the very end. Instead, he took the long view, letting the repeated figuration unfold swiftly and calmly in the first two movements almost as if the music were a prototype for minimalism. Yet here there was genuine warmth and – in the fleet second movement, especially – crisp precision. The slow movement showcased some lovely clarinet playing. Still, it was with the Ode to Joy that the performance finally caught light. The bass James Rutherford launched the singing in the finale with bluff gravitas, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, on excellent form, responded with infectious conviction. Volkov had made us wait, but it was worth it.